When Africans Meet African-Americans (life, influence, culture, living)
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To a point, I disagree. History means nothing. My grandparents came to America from Russia, escaping the oppression of the Tsar. That is completely meaningless to me, and has made no contribution whatsoever to who I am as a person.
A Black American and a Black African have nothing in common whatsoever, any more so than a White American and White African. They may, incidentally, be able to find some common ground if they both grew up in a place where Blacks were subjected to discrimination or oppression. But no living Black American was directly affected by Slavery, and very few old enough to have been directly affected by Segretation. Similarly, very few Black Africans are old enough to have been directly affected by Colonialism. However historically important those phenomena are, a Black American and a Black African meeting in the street have not been influenced at all in their lifetimes by slavery, segregation or colonialism. No more so than I and a 25 year old Russian have any common experience of serfdom or oppression in Russia.
As an aside, has it occurred to you that Barack Obama did not spend one single day of his childhood living in an African-American household, society or neighborhood, and cannot know from personal experience that that would be like. He is the 44th US president to be raised as a white child by a white family in a white social framework. It would be "unnatural" for Obama to assume that he has anything in common with even a Black American, much less a Black African.
I disagree with you that history means nothing. I can't really speak about the lasting impacts of colonialism in Africa, but de jure and de facto segregationist practices in the U.S. still have very impactful and lingering effects from everything to housing, education, employment, etc. It goes well beyond only having lived within that particular era of history. Unfortunately, it is the negative impacts of that legacy, and some ill-fated attempts at rectification, that are the source of many ills that plague African American communities and thus skews the perception that African immigrants--and others--have about African Americans overall.
Less than 5% of Africans can remember colonial days, and lmaybe 5% of African Americans alive today attended segregated schools. (12% of African Americans are over 65, and more than half of those grew up in states with integrated facilities.)
So did I and so did George W. Bush and so did Bill Clinton..
Both of my parents remember segregation very well and many older Black people may have experienced both, as many were born in the South and then moved North or out West later in their childhood.
As for interactions between Africans and African Americans, they run the gamut around here and some understand each other, some don't.
Africans and South American blacks want everyone to know that they are NOT AFrican Americans. They are embarrassed by African Americans.
Which is silly when you consider that both have their own fcked up situations and people.
To reiterate on my article's point. We African-Americans got our high unemployment,poverty,discrimination and white domination that's messed us up and Africans got their warlords and corrupt governments that got them messed up.
I disagree with you that history means nothing. I can't really speak about the lasting impacts of colonialism in Africa, but de jure and de facto segregationist practices in the U.S. still have very impactful and lingering effects from everything to housing, education, employment, etc. It goes well beyond only having lived within that particular era of history. Unfortunately, it is the negative impacts of that legacy, and some ill-fated attempts at rectification, that are the source of many ills that plague African American communities and thus skews the perception that African immigrants--and others--have about African Americans overall.
While what you say is true about the present, it is not so because of the history if race relations. Modern day Americans who are racist have a whole set of rationalizations why they are that way, none of which relate to the racial history of the USA. Americans who are racist would be anyway, regardless if there had ever been slavery or segregation. After all, the number of people in Britain, for example, who are racist is similar to the number in the USA, but Britain has no history of slavery, segregation, or any other institutionalized oppression.
While what you say is true about the present, it is not so because of the history if race relations. Modern day Americans who are racist have a whole set of rationalizations why they are that way, none of which relate to the racial history of the USA. Americans who are racist would be anyway, regardless if there had ever been slavery or segregation. After all, the number of people in Britain, for example, who are racist is similar to the number in the USA, but Britain has no history of slavery, segregation, or any other institutionalized oppression.
I don't see anything in that article about slaves being held IN what is now known as Great Britain. At some earlier point in history, no doubt there were people in Great Britain who were enslaved, but they were not from Africa. Outright slavery in England was virtually abolished by the 12th century. In the colonial era, convicts from England (always white) were sometimes transported to the colonies to be held there as slaves.
Jtur88 you talk is as If modern day black people aren't affected by the lasting impact of slavery and imperialism. That is completely wrong.
In America:
While European families had hundreds of years to settle down In America, African- Americans had only had about 150. For A 100 of those years they were treated as second class citizens. Black people were not even allowed to attend the University of Mississippi until 1972. The high paying jobs offered to White were not offered to the blacks with the same skills. Today, black people are affected negatively by this harsh entrance to American Society. Black people are less educated, less employed, and less prideful, because they were born in a world where they were punished for being black. Media today still attacks the black family. Look who pushed the drugs into the neighborhoods, who was the CEO and pushers of gangster rap. America needs a lower class and the Media would love to keep black people there.
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